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Abstract

One purpose of this study was to determine the relationships among
community college students' mathematics, electronics, and electronics
troubleshooting knowledge. A second purpose of the study was to determine
the extent to which independent variables predicted troubleshooting
knowledge. Students involved in the study were enrolled in electronics
technician associate degree granting programs. More specifically the study
was designed to examine the relationships among electronics troubleshooting
knowledge and the following independent variables:

1. Number of mathematics courses taken at the community college level

2. Types of mathematics courses taken at community college level

3. Mathematics knowledge as measured by scores on a standardized

mathematics test

4. Number of electronics courses taken at the high school level

5. Number of electronics courses taken at the community college level

6. Prior work experience in the electronics industry

In addition to examining these variables, this study also sought to answer the
question: Which combination of variables best tends to predict troubleshooting
knowledge?

Usable data were gathered from 100 North Carolina community college
students who were enrolled in electronics technician degree granting programs
at five randomly selected community colleges. The students participating in
this study were administered three data gathering instruments. The
instruments included a Student Information and Data Sheet designed to gather
demographic information about each student, a standardized mathematics
knowledge test designed to cover the mathematical concepts stressed in
elementary, intermediate and college algebra, and finally, a paper and pencil
electronics and troubleshooting test which consisted of troubleshooting an AM
transceiver functional block diagram, a servicing block diagram, a power
supply, and a summing circuit.

It was determined that under the conditions imposed by this study only
one of the independent variables, score on the Mathematics Knowledge Test,
could be used with some accuracy to predict troubleshooting knowledge. The
independent variable mathematics knowledge, as represented by scores on
the standardized mathematics knowledge test, could only predict
troubleshooting knowledge with 6.8% percent accuracy.